FACT:  God's Spirit in you will produce abounding love!

Key Scripture:  "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment (Philippians 1:9 NKJV)

Paul writes this verse to the Philippians as God moves on his heart to pray for the Philippians.  It was God's desire that love would abound among the Philippians, and it is God's desire that love would abound today in my life and yours.  Not only to abound, but that it may abound still more and more!

Prayer

Prayer is the means through which the Spirit of God moves by unleashing the blessings that He desires us to experience, and the priority of LOVE in your life is at the top of all other blessings because it not only blesses you, but blesses others. 

Prayer is not something that is complicated or something to be thought of in a formal way, but it is the communication between a Father and His child.  God is Holy and should be respected, but the Bible teaches that to those who receive Jesus as their Savior then God is also a FRIEND and a FATHER.  In fact, in Romans 8:15-17 Paul writes, For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ABBA FATHER.  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ...

"The word Abba is an Aramaic word that means "Father."  It was a common term that expressed affection, confidence, and trust.  Abba signifies the close, intimate relationship of a father and his child, as well as the childlike trust that a young child puts in his "daddy."

God our Father puts His desire in our hearts for ourselves and others through His Word(Bible), and through the help of His Spirit His power is released and manifested as we pray.

Love That Abounds

Again, Paul prays that love may abound in those Christians who were living in Philippi, and it is also God's will for love to abound in our lives. 

We might now have some questions like, what does love look like?  What might keep love from abounding in my life?  Or, how do I maintain this abounding love in my life?

What does love look like?

What does abounding love look like?  What are the characteristics of  this abounding love?

To truly understand what love should look like in our lives we need to first understand that God wants us to experience more than just natural human affection that many call love.  Human natural affection can be looked at as good, and thank God for it.  But the love that God wants to pour out into our lives is a supernatural unconditional love that comes from the Spirit of God Himself. 

This kind of love gives even when it doesn't receive.  This is the kind of love that drove Jesus to the cross.  This is the kind of love that Jesus even extended to Peter by restoring him after he denied Jesus three times.  This is the kind of love Jesus displayed  while hanging on the cross, as He said, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do."

Romans 5:5 says "...the love of  God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." 

Have you asked Jesus to come into your heart and be your Savior?  If you have the Bible tells us that we have received the Spirit of God.  1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?"

So if you have the Spirit of God then you have the love of God that has been poured out into our hearts.  The question might be then, in what measure am I experiencing this love?  We shall get to this question in a moment, but first lets look at the characteristics  of God's love.

In Galatians 5:22-23 we have the characteristics of love displayed.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..."

The fruit of the Spirit is love, and from love flows the characteristics of joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

This is what abounding love should look like.  It should look like joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Do you see the fruit of the Spirit (love) working in your life?  Do you see these characteristics abounding in your life?  If love is abounding in your life then these characteristics will show up.

You might ask the question.  Although I see some of these characteristics in my life at times, why is it that I do not consistently see them working in me?

What will keep love from abounding?

Just because none of us perfectly love all the time does not mean that God's love can't abound in us.  God expects and desires His love to abound in us or Paul would not have prayed for this love to abound in the Philippians.

We need to realize that we are in a spiritual war, and there are dark forces that desire us to hate rather than to love.  There is a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6) and we need to be careful to follow God's word so that we may experience this abounding love.

Since it is the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5) that pours out the love of God in our hearts we should be careful not to grieve or quench the Spirit of God.  In Ephesians chapter 4:30 we are told not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God.  Why would we want to grieve the Holy Spirit of God if He is the One Who pours out God's love into our hearts.

Ephesians 4:25-31 tells us how we grieve the Spirit of God:

Lying - anger that we hang on to - taking what does not belong to us - corrupt words that proceed from our mouths - bitterness - evil speaking

Sin, will keep the love of God from abounding in our lives.  None of us are perfect and we all sin, but sin that we hang on to and refuse to confess to the Lord  is a power that will begin to dam up the river of love.  It will trickle to a small stream if we don't confess our sins to the Lord. Confession and abiding in Christ will burst the dam that dry's up the love of God in our lives.

As Christians we may go through a season of unrepentant sin (some call this backsliding), and it leads to a barren life. 

King David spoke of the barrenness that sin caused him while he was unrepentant (backsliding), but when he confessed his sins and turned back to the Lord  he experienced cleansing, forgiveness, and a renewed presence of God's love back into his life.

What will keep love abounding?

What will keep love abounding in our lives, and how can this abounding love be maintained?

First, I think we need to pray for ourselves and others that love would abound.  We need to recognize that this love is from God Himself, and we do not, in ourselves posses this kind of love.  In humility we should see our lowliness and His greatness!

Second, we need to understand the statement Jesus made to His disciples.  Jesus said to them, "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love." (John 15:10)

We understand that sin puts a damper on the love of God, so we need to be focused on being obedient and following the commandments of God so that love may abound in our lives.

We need to understand that we have been given power through the Spirit of God to overcome sin.  We don't have to allow sin to rule over us, but to allow the Spirit that is in us rule over sin.  As Christians we have been forgiven of all our sins, but I believe that sometimes we forget that we have power through the Cleansing Blood of Jesus. The Cleansing Blood of Jesus not only literally washes away our sins, but allows His Spirit to literally give us freedom over the power of sin.

Again, less sin equals more of the abounding love of God in our lives.

We need more abounding love not only in our personal lives, but also in our churches.  I have been in churches where there was a lack of love, and those churches had one thing in common, a lack of concern when it came to sinful activities. It's as though many seem to have the attitude that this is just the way I am, and I can't do anything about it, so what's the use.  That kind of attitude comes mostly from not understanding the power and freedom that God gives to all who know Jesus Christ as Savior.   Jesus saves us from the penalty of sin and also saves us from the power of sin! 

Thirdly, Abiding in Christ will keep love abounding in us!

Jesus said in John 15:4-5, "Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 

I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

Remember, The Fruit of the Spirit is Love!  Jesus says in John 15:4-5 that we are the branches, and He is the Vine.  The branches can't bear fruit (love) without the Vine (Jesus) supplying the needed life to produce the fruit (love). 

So let me end by saying ABIDE IN CHRIST!